<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ESPN)</div><div class='quotemain'>James was held out of Cleveland's practice on Monday to rest his back, which has been tightening up and bothering the Cavaliers' All-Star forward for the past few weeks. His back spasms got so severe during a recent game against Chicago that James was unable to sit in a chair during timeouts.</div> Link This is potentially serious for the Cavs with the Playoffs just 11 days away. They've lost 5 of their last 7 and have scored just 27 points in their past two 4th Quarters combined. Depite their slim grasp on the 4th seed in the East, I propose that they rest LeBron for all 5 remaining games, essentially meaning he gets 2 weeks off, backdated to their previous game. This would serve the following two purposes: Firstly, the obvious one. It would give LeBron time to rest and hopefully to overcome his injuries. He would hopefully be fresh and raring to go for the Playoffs. Many Cavs fans might hate to hear it, but there's no way he should have been on the court in the past two games. He visibly struggled throughout the games and could not even sit down during time-outs, his back was so bad. I'm sorry, but if he cannot even sit down, there's no way he can slash to the basket with the power and dominance he usually provides. With two weeks off, hopefully he could come back at 100% ready to carry the Cavs through the Playoffs. Secondly, it would force some of the other Cavaliers to buck up their own ideas. Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic and Wally Szczerbiak have been poor when on the floor recently. A 5-game stretch with increased minutes could allow them to find their groove. It would also force them to run an offense without LeBron James, something very important in the Playoffs. My guess is that the ball would be fed to Ilgauskas a lot more, who would post up and either try to make a hook shot or pass it back out. The newly found style of offense might even help whilst LeBron is on the court, to take some pressure off him. This is a risky strategy, and one which Mike Brown might not be willing to take on, such is his reliance upon LeBron James. Even if he implements the decision and it goes semi-successfully, they might lose hold of the 4th seed. But I ask, which is better, the 4th seed and a struggling LeBron James? Or the 5th seed against the same opponent with no home-court advantage, with a fully fit LeBron and a rejuvenated squad of players, finding form at the right time?
I was watching the Orlando game, where Orlando came back from down like 10 and ended up winning by about 10, and you could tell Lebron was having a really hard time out there. He was pulling a Richard Jefferson, missing easy layups over and over again. And the Cavs team as a whole just fell apart. As of now, the Cavs would face the Wizards. If they faced them tomorrow, I couldn't see them making it out of the 1st round, with the injury to Lebron. He needs to rest. I hope Brown and Lebron make the right decision. I'd also like to see Pavlovic, Szcerbiak, and Gibson get back into their games. (Besides, someone has to beat Detroit and Boston in the playoffs )
